The list is the result of a 2023 law that mandated the Texas Education Agency to compile a list of reading materials for each grade.
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) delayed a planned vote Friday on a proposed mandatory reading list for K-12 students.
Earlier in the week, parents, teachers and advocates raised concerns about the religious nature of the readings and the lack of racial, ethnic, and gender diversity.
In a 13-1 vote on Friday, the board delayed consideration of the materials until its April meetings to give SBOE members more time to review the list and provide feedback.
“I am aware there are some suitability flags with some of the materials,” SBOE Secretary Will Hickman (R-Houston) said. “I want to give us a chance to consider those for others to raise other suitability flags to us, and consider, are these the right works? Are the works in the right grade? Do we have too many books or not enough? I think we need some time to work through.”
The list is the result of a 2023 law that mandated the Texas Education Agency to compile a list of reading materials for each grade. The law requires the state to pick one required book per grade, but the proposal includes anywhere from 5 to 15 books per grade, for a total of nearly 300.
Board member Keven Ellis (R-Lufkin) said he was in favor of the classic literature on the list and other items as well, but felt it was too robust and it would take students and teachers too long to get through.
“Mr. Hickman talked about a 50%-50% time bucket of instructional time,” Ellis said. “I’m going to be working on a list that gets us there, but I think sticking more along the original titles that were in the commissioner’s list.”
Republican board member Brandon Hall from Aledo was the lone no vote on delaying the vote until April. Hall said he believes there has been more than ample opportunity for people to review the proposal and offer feedback, and that it is important that students read classical texts.
“I don’t think that’s any reason to delay the good proposal that we have, that’s full of rich classical literature and a return to those things and a standardization,” Hall said. “This, if we approve it now, will help our schools be able to implement it in a more timely manner. It’ll be good for the transparency, so our parents can see it and look through these materials before it’s actually implemented.”
Once approved, schools are required to teach the materials beginning in the 2030-2031 school year. Parents could opt their students out of any specific readings, though TEA leaders said that students could still be tested on that material.
The list ranges from nursery rhymes in elementary school to classical literature in later grades. While it includes classics like Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat, S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, it also sparked criticism for including religious materials with a Christian focus, like The Parable of the Prodigal Son, David and Goliath and The Road to Damascus.
“This list, as it currently stands, does lack a lot of inclusion of everyone that the state of Texas represents, especially our students of color,” Board member Tiffany Clark (D-DeSoto) said.
Critics argue that by focusing on Christianity rather than any other religion in the reading, the reading violates the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which prevents states from endorsing or promoting a particular religion.
“If literary exposure to the Bible is the point, then we would also be including other religious traditions. We’re not,” said Tiffany Perkinz, an English teacher and mom of six, including four who are in public school. She is also running for the District 7 seat on the SBOE.
Perkins called the selected list “outdated.”
“It’s very white, male-centric. No Hispanic authors, ninth through 12th grade,” Perkinz said. “In 11th grade, when they teach American literature, there are no women authors.
While the list includes literary works from authors like Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King Jr. and Langston Hughes, critics argue that there are not enough authors of color, given that Hispanic and Black students make up the majority of Texas students.
According to TEA data, in the 2024-2025 school year, 53% of Texas students were Hispanic, 25% were white, and 13% were African American.
“Literature is windows and mirrors. What that means is literature helps us see ourselves and understand ourselves better. ” It also gives us insight into other people’s lives, which builds empathy,” Perkinz said. “What this suggested literary works does, with the demographics in Texas, most kids will not see themselves in literature represented.”
Perkinz said that children seeing themselves reflected in material as part of their education has been linked to positive effects on student outcomes.
To create this list of recommended literary works, the Texas Education Agency said it surveyed over 5,700 teachers about what they taught in their classrooms and looked at which books other states and organizations use, factoring that data into its recommended list of books.
Shannon Trejo, deputy commissioner of school programs for the Texas Education Agency, described the biblical components of the list as “informational text.”
It will ultimately be up to the SBOE to determine how standardized the list is and how much wiggle room there is for local control, allowing students to pick books, and flexibility for teachers and districts.
“There’s just way too much content because my concern is with if we went with that full list where our students going to have time to do responsive writing to uh analyze literary elements more in communication and to develop their critical thinking skills which I think is the whole reason that we teach children because we want to teach them how to think and not what to think and I think we will be spending too much time um learning content versus thinking,” SBOE Vice Chair Pam Little (R-Fairview) said.
Perkinz said the list will not allow teachers to make their own decisions about what to teach in their classroom. While educators could still teach other books that are not on the list, several educators have said they would not have time to study other literature in a thorough enough manner in their classes.
“Some of these are too advanced for the grades that they’re supposed to be representing, which would take away time to really dig into some of the things like learning about different literary elements because they have to make sure that students can even understand them,” Perkinz said. “There’s no leniency for different special needs or the different levels that students are on. It’s really an issue of state control and taking away control from local districts, which traditionally collaborate with their English teachers to select the best works for each student.”
The SBOE also voted Friday to move forward with changes to how public schools teach social studies.
Supporters of the plan say it will help students better analyze historical patterns and see America in a global context.
The new framework focuses on teaching students in kindergarten through second grade about key people, places and events throughout Texas and U.S. history.
Currently, students learn about Texas History in fourth and seventh grades, U.S. History in fifth and eighth grades, and world cultures in sixth grade.
Under the changes, from third to seventh grades, students would receive roughly 1.2 years of world history content, more than what is incorporated in the standalone World Cultures sequence currently taught in sixth grade.
While there is not a standalone year where students will learn only about World History and Culture, they will get a blend of World, U.S. and Texas history each year. Eighth grade is a standalone Texas history capstone.
Topics would be taught in chronological order, culminating in the modern era. That means kids would learn about ancient history in earlier grades.
For instance, third graders would spend 50% of their time learning about the birth of Western civilization, including its impact on America and Texas; 30% on the birth of civilization in Texas; and the other 20% on the birth of civilization in the Americas.
While sixth graders would spend at least 80% of their time on the birth and growth of Texas in the American Experiment, up to 15% on the growth of the U.S. and expanding freedoms and up to 5% on revolutions and the age of Imperialism.
Perkinz said she believes the changes are too centric on the Western world and deliberately leave out essential “black voices, Hispanic voices, indigenous voices.”
“The Ottoman Empire is barely mentioned,” Perkinz said. “That’s a concern that a lot of parents that I’ve talked to have, because it does influence who we are today.”
Perkinz said the social studies changes don’t prepare students “to participate in a global society.”
“Texas is one of the largest economies with people going to work in foreign-owned companies,” Perkins said. “This does not prepare them for that. It prepares them for a very narrow worldview that is very centric within the borders of Texas.”
In 2024, the SBOE approved a controversial curriculum that includes Bible-influenced content in classrooms.
The optional curriculum would apply to students in kindergarten through 5th grade. Bluebonnet Learning is state-developed material that provides a variety of lessons and resources elementary school teachers can use. Individual school districts in the state have the option to implement it. But it comes with a financial incentive of about $60 per student. About 1 in 4 Texas school districts sign up for new Bible-infused curriculum.
